We moved house in 1965 and within a few years I had permission to build a layout in our loft. Unfortunately, the only concession to comfort was a boarded floor and electric lights. Access was via a precariously balanced stepladder - a proper loft ladder was not installed until well after I had left home. The loft space was therefore largely unmodified and suffered from regular and messy intrusions by our feathered friends, as well as being hot in summer and cold in winter. Although I made reasonable use of the facility the restrictions soon chafed and I eventually gave up and packed everything away.

My first move away from "train set" modelling was not particularly successful, to put it mildly. I was a member of a local railway club and, for reasons I cannot recall, was somehow given permission - and funding - to build a club layout. I'll skip all the sordid details, for it would be far quicker to describe the few bits that went well than list all of the mistakes I made. It was a simple end-to-end, terminus to fiddle yard design in 00 which had a 21' x 2' scenic section on five baseboards, plus a 5' long fiddle yard with five roads. It was laid with Peco Streamline track, glued down with PVA adhesive and ballasted while the glue was wet. There was only one electrical feed on the whole layout and the connections across baseboard joints were achieved by using sliding Peco fishplates (I know, I know). The layout was far too ambitious for someone of my (then) limited experience, although I did receive some help from older and supposedly wiser club members. It was never completed and only exhibited once at our local show. It operated quite well, mainly using standard Hornby Dublo and Tri-ang/Hornby stock, although one of the Peco points developed an electrical fault quite early on in the day which permanently isolated one siding. It could have been easily resolved, but I simply didn't know how at the time. The layout was dismantled a few months later and some of the materials were re-used. It was an ignominious start, but I always try to learn lessons in life and my next efforts were better. Even now I cringe when I look back at that first project and think what might have been!

In common with other enthusiasts, my railway modelling has often been influenced by contemporary friends and associates. In 1972 one of my mates got into 009 and I too was drawn by the slightly anarchic possibilities it offered. The result was the Awkwood & Ballyuseless Railway, a comparatively compact layout measuring just 5’ x 3’ overall. It was solidly built (i.e. heavy), with integral folding legs which made it largely self-contained. As a keen woodworker I built the baseboard and leg assemblies myself and I was quite proud of the result. In fact I got a lot more right on this one, although still with some avoidable errors. It was basically a continuous run with a station (Awkwood) at the front of the layout and a high level terminus (Ballyuseless) at the rear of the layout, built over some hidden storage sidings. My principal error with this layout was the incline to the upper level. I allowed a rather generous 6” between the two levels, meaning that the gradient off the “main” line was 1 in 9, reducing to around 1 in 6 on the final curve. The photograph above was taken just prior to the layout being dismantled in 1975 and clearly shows the fearsome gradient. One of my fellow members remarked that the Snowdon Mountain Railway might have been a better project...

Despite its flaws, there were a few refinements over my previous attempt. The A & B had two power feeds and an auxiliary controller, offering independent control for the upper section, while the lower level points on the scenic section were motorised. However, at its first showing the layout lived up to its name. The Peco passing contact switches for the point motors had a tendency to stick, the electrical connection thereby becoming more permanent than passing. Sadly, this was only evident when a plume of smoke began to emerge from below the baseboard as the point motors gently cooked themselves. Three of the five solenoids had burnt out within the first two hours of operation, so the giant (and more reliable) hand from the sky took over.

The rolling stock also played up, with my two Minitrains locos suddenly deciding to run erratically and a few of the coaches and wagons became unintentional slip vehicles by self-uncoupling at inconvenient moments. Fortunately, I had two Eggerbahn locos that performed quite well, but the star was a Peco/Gem Vari-kit on a Minitrix chassis which basically kept the show going. It was also the only loco that could manage the formidable incline unaided! The layout’s infamy was therefore assured within my local circle. I have placed a few more images of the A & B R on a separate gallery page. Click here to see the page.

Despite its obvious failings, the layout was quite fun to operate. Unfortunately, it had to be stored outside, cocooned in a large plastic sheet, which was somewhat less than ideal. Nonetheless, the A & B survived its enforced hibernation and further detailing work was undertaken in preparation for its second public showing in 1973. This time my mate loaned me some of his locos and the layout worked reasonably well. It survived for around another 18 months, being hauled out occasionally in fine weather for outdoor operating sessions, before it too was broken up.

In 1975 I was working with another established modeller, John Hickman, who had built two branch terminus layouts based on Buntingford station, one in 4mm scale and a newer version in 2mm scale. Again, I was persuaded to try something new and came up with my own N gauge layout which could be operated in its own right, or connected to John’s terminus via a new scenic board which replaced his fiddle yard. His layout represented a fictitious northward extension of the Buntingford branch to the village of Buckland, so it made sense for me to model an equally imaginary station between the two, serving the village of Chipping.

My model was built as a junction station, the rationale being that the GE and GN had built a line across country to join the Hitchin-Royston-Cambridge route. This meant that the line could act as a diversionary route which strengthened traffic on the GE line from St Margarets. Chipping was a continuous run with storage sidings at the rear of the layout, while the branch stub was used as a headshunt when John’s terminus layout was not present. Chipping used techniques that were new to me, including the use of wire-in-tube for point control and modular baseboards for the off-stage section. The latter allowed me to operate the layout in a terminus to fiddle yard configuration if required and also acted as a test track with plain boards replacing the scenic sections.

Ultimately, Chipping and Buckland were only joined together for one public showing, but the concept proved interesting. The electrics and controls were sophisticated enough for operators to drive trains on both layouts, as appropriate, while they could both operate independently to keep visitors interested. Unfortunately, very few pictures of this layout exist, as the film of the exhibition outing was damaged. I lost contact with John in 1979, so I have no idea how long his layout survived. Mine did, in part, until the early 1980s, leaving me once again with a box of stock and nowhere to run it.

The mid-1970s were interesting for another reason. The friend who started me off on 009 had also become a convert to the then new P4 standards and joined the North London Group (NLG) of the Protofour Society. The membership of the NLG at that time included a surprisingly large group who read like a Who's Who of eminent railway modellers. I went along as a guest for a couple of meetings before formally joining the Society. Still working in 00, I had no real hope of ever getting into ultra finescale modelling, but it was nice to be on the fringes of such an eminent group and the NLG meetings were never dull. There did seem to be a definite inner circle during my membership, which was hardly surprising given the number of LMS experts in the Group, including Bob Essery, Mike Peascod and Ken Morgan. There were other members whom I came to like and admire, such as Ray Hammond and Ken York. There were many others in the NLG too, some whose names I cannot clearly recall, but it's fair to say that most of them unwittingly left a positive impression on a young man.

I was still in the NLG when, for reasons I never did fully understand, there was a falling out of the P4 principals, leading to the creation of the Scalefour Society. I therefore became a member of the S4 fraternity for a short time. This was the period when Heckmondwike was under construction and I contributed to the project. I hasten to add that this merely involved painting a few of the fascia panels, a task more befitting my skills, or lack thereof. I never saw it completed as a member of NLG, because I then developed more than a passing interest in the fairer sex and this virtually stopped the small amount of modelling I was doing. However, I seem to recall seeing the layout at the National Railway Museum some years ago as a static display. My brief flirtation with P4/S4 taught me a few things and being a member of NLG brought me considerable pleasure, especially on the couple of occasions when I won some nice tools in Ray Hammond's regular fundraising raffles - more commonly and affectionately referred to as The Swindle. And my finescale outputs? Er...the only item I ever made to S4 standards was a short section of handbuilt track, but it's the thought that counts.

For about 20 years or so my interest has waxed and waned, with a few items acquired or work carried out, but still without space for a layout or even a modest area for a small workbench. One such phase occurred between 1988 and 1991, when I was fortunate enough to meet master modelmaker Vic Green. Vic had a fairly blunt and uncompromising approach to modelling, but he was inspirational in many ways and taught me some useful stuff, not the least of which was how to solder properly. One consequence of this was that I built a 6’ test track, including a point, completely by hand using rail soldered to PCB strip sleepers. This may not seem much to experienced modellers, but for me it was a huge step forward, including wiring up a live frog for the first time. It also gave me lots of soldering practice!

Around this time a new colleague at work turned out to be another established modeller. Geraint Hughes is probably best known as a Cromford and High Peak specialist and his two P4 layouts, Rise End Quarry and Middlepeak Wharf, have appeared on the exhibition circuit. While shunting layouts are not among my core model railway interests, I was amazed when I saw the level of detail that Geraint incoporated into Middlepeak Wharf. I was privileged to be able to shoot some pictures of one section and an example is reproduced here. He contributed buildings to the Cambridge Area Group's layouts (Pampisford and Saffron Walden) and I have watched him glueing individual plasticard bricks onto a shell. In this respect his patience exceeds mine by some margin. Inspirational is not a word I would use to describe the superb work that Geraint does. In my case it just makes me realise how hopelessly impatient and ham-fisted I am!

From around 1988 to 1995 I took an interest in 0 gauge and joined the Gauge 0 Guild. Once again, the finescale bug bit me and I became a member of the newly formed Scaleseven Group. I had seen a small demonstration piece a few years previously built by Ken Cottle and was bowled over by the realistic appearance of the little 14xx auto tank on some beautifully made track. However, real life got in the way yet again and I only ever managed to attend one meeting of the Group in Leagrave, Beds. It came as no surprise to find that Bob Essery was in the thick of it, still creating bits of the Midland and LMS in miniature. There were other well-established modellers present who gave me some useful hints and tips, but it was simply not practical for me to contemplate further involvement when I was struggling to find space to set up my 00 test track.

Coming up to date, my only projects in recent times have been to collect models for a future layout, although I did build a nice little Hornby-based 00 train set layout for my nephew in 2008. It gave us a lot of pleasure and also provided an opportunity for me to exercise some of my collection on more than just six feet of test track. Unfortunately, I have to use the past tense, because even this has had to be dismantled ready for a house move, although we hope that a new and better version will be possible in the not too distant future. As for me, my dream layout awaits a move to a much larger home. I’ve spent lots of years planning; I now want to build.